


Lioness

by xenosaurus



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Loyalty, Post-Time Skip, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-31 10:49:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20113885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xenosaurus/pseuds/xenosaurus
Summary: “I know you don’t believe it, and maybe this is one thing I’ll never be able to teach you, but you don’t deserve to suffer.  And even if you did, I would still do everything in my power to prevent it.”





	Lioness

**Author's Note:**

> sometimes you just gotta write something with way too many feelings in it
> 
> (thank you to my beta, benny, for their help and support <3)

Dimitri lost his sense of taste in Duscur.

Like so many things about him, Byleth finds out from someone else. This time, Flayn is the messenger, mentioning it offhand while helping Byleth chop vegetables for campfire stew. She doesn’t seem to think much of it, but Byleth is immediately struck by the implications.

Byleth doesn’t have the best grasp on culture or socializing, but she knows combat and injury. She’s seen soldiers go deaf or blind from blows to the head, and between this and his headaches, she’s starting to get a better picture of the nature of Dimitri’s injuries 9 years ago. He keeps insisting he doesn’t need to see a healer for the headaches, and she’s let it go as a side effect of stress and his bare-bones sleep schedule. That was clearly a mistake.

She waits until after dinner to talk to him about it. He would have made the time if she’d asked him right then and there, but after so long watching him isolate himself, she loathes to pull him away from everyone eating together. Watching him talk to Annette about strategic positioning for their mages makes her chest feel light and warm.

Seeing him smile again, even if it’s a shadow of what it used to be, feels like a miracle.

Still, she doesn’t want to delay this for long.

Byleth doesn’t actually have to ask Dimitri to meet her after dinner. She makes eye contact with him just before they start cleaning up, and that’s all he needs.

She steps away from the campfire, careful to stay close enough that the knights could hear her if she shouts. Dimitri follows her, just a few steps behind. Instinctively, she positions herself so she has an eye on his blind side. Protecting him comes as easy as breathing.

“You wanted to talk to me?”

Byleth nods. “Regarding your old injuries.”

Dimitri frowns. “Which injuries?”

Goddess, but Byleth does hate war. “The ones from Duscur. Please be honest with me-- did they include a head wound?”

“What?” Dimitri asks, visibly confused. Even in this context, it’s a relief to see an emotion other than fury or abject misery on his face. “Well, yes, but I don’t see how that’s relevant. It’s long since healed.”

“It has not. Have you ever told a healer you’ve no sense of taste?”

Dimitri freezes, before relaxing into a deep sigh. “Flayn told you, did she?”

“She did. Dimitri, paired with the sudden loss of one of your senses, I strongly doubt your headaches are stress-induced. At least, not entirely. You need to talk to a healer. You should have talked to one years ago.”

He breaks eye contact then, his body language shifting in a slow slide towards self-loathing. Byleth’s skin prickles coldly at the sight.

“Everyone else died. A few headaches and tasteless food seemed inconsequential.”

“It isn’t,” Byleth says, firmly. “I know you don’t believe it, and maybe this is one thing I’ll never be able to teach you, but you don’t deserve to suffer. And even if you did, I would still do everything in my power to prevent it.”

“Byleth, I--”

She holds up a hand to stop him before he can say anything horrible about himself. “Dimitri, you need to understand something. I have seen you at your worst. It has done nothing to change how dear you are to me. I understand how many people’s expectations are on your shoulders… But even if history is not kind to you in the end, I still will be. So, please. Don’t try to debate your worth with me.”

In the quiet at the edge of camp, Byleth can hear Dimitri swallow. He stares at her, struck speechless. Even lit only by moonlight, she can see the way his face flushes, and the aching disbelief in his expression.

She reaches out to take his hand, and he breaks.

Byleth has seen this man shatter before, but this is the only time it hasn’t hurt to watch. He lurches forward and hauls her into a hug, wrapping her in the familiar scent of smoke and old blood that clings to his cloak. It smells like war, like all the things that are haunting him, and she holds on so tightly that the grooves of his armor bite into her skin.

For all that he calls himself a beast, he does not cry like an animal. He weeps like a man.

“I’m here,” she promises, her voice as fierce as the loyalty in her chest. “I’m here, and we will fix this.”

He presses his face against her hair, the height difference just cumbersome enough to keep him from finding safe haven in her shoulder. He’s heavy and warm.

She takes some of his weight without even a thought of complaint.

Time slips away as he tries to collect himself, and she just holds on, in no rush to part. She would stay like this for centuries, if that was what he needed to find his footing again.

“I don’t deserve you,” he finally manages, his voice hoarse.

“Regardless, you have me,” Byleth says, in a tone that brooks no argument. She shifts her weight back so she can look at him properly. He moves with her, lifting his head.

Byleth leaves one arm around him as an anchor, and lifts the other to tuck his hair behind his ear, to get it out of his remaining eye. He leans into her touch, so she lays her hand on his cheek.

“There are no words to express how thankful I am to have you in my life,” Dimitri says, somehow soft and rough at the same time. “Every time I think I understand the depth of it, you find one more dark hole to pull me out of.”

“I have no intention of stopping,” Byleth smiles, and Dimitri’s gaze drops to her mouth. Again he swallows, and for a moment, he hesitates. There’s a tension she can’t quite place in that moment, but in the end, he breaks it with only a smile.

“Then I will have to do the same for you.”

**Author's Note:**

> my tumblr is [xenosaurus](https://xenosaurus.tumblr.com) and I'm apparently a fire emblem blog now


End file.
